This is interesting. Stanford has a program to produce audio versions of lectures that can be downloaded into portable mp3 players, such as the Apple iPod (the term for audio files used in this manner is "podcast").
This is not a new idea. If you've attended Harvard Extension School, especially some of the larger lectures, you've probably noticed a lot of people putting portable tape players and digital audio recorders on the table to record them for playback later. I've even noticed people with iPods attaching microphones to their mp3 players, so they don't even need to download the audio file -- it's already on their player, ready to be listened to.
I welcome this trend, especially if I can download audio content from respected professors in my field of study who don't teach in the Boston area. I've owned an iPod for more than a year, and sometimes hook it up to my car stereo to listen to music -- why not educational lectures by world-class professors instead?
Other posts about educational podcasting:
Where have all the podcasts gone? (Discusses UC Berkeley podcasts, Harvard podcasts, and Apple's iTunes I program)
Educational podcasting: Why isn't Harvard doing more?
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